Electronic medical thermometers that estimate a patient's body temperature have been in common use in the medical community for a number of years. Measuring body temperature can be a critical factor in the treatment of problems or diseases of patients. Thus, determining an individual's body temperature in an accurate and noninvasive manner is essential to providing proper care to the patient. However, patients typically view the temperature taking process as intrusive and uncomfortable. This is especially the case for a neonate having his/her temperature taken through the rectum.
Rectal thermometry, in comparison to oral and axillary thermometry, has traditionally been considered the gold standard for temperature measurement. The reason for this is that the walls surrounding the rectum and anal canal provide the most accurate assessment of an individual's core temperature. Rectal temperature readings are thus able to provide a user, typically a clinician or parent, with an accurate assessment of the individual's, typically a child's, core body temperature.
Accurate core body temperature measurements are essential for monitoring the health and fitness of a newborn child. The possibility of infections and illness in newborn children is especially high. For newborn children, illnesses and infections also have a greater potential to lead to other more serious ailments. As such, the ability to determine the core temperature of newborn children accurately and regularly is of great importance to parents and clinicians.
While rectal temperature measurement is the most practical and accurate assessment of an individual's core body temperature it is nonetheless a process that is affected by many variables. Most notably among the variables are the depth of placement of the rectal temperature measurement device, the presence of stool, and the user's ability to maintain the positioning of the rectal temperature measurement device. The last variable is especially important since the user is typically attempting to take the rectal temperature of a restless and squirming child. Also, the ability to properly sterilize a rectal thermometer is of utmost importance as rectal temperature measuring devices have the capacity to spread contaminants that are commonly found in stool. Finally, the ability of the user to read the temperature being taken while the device remains inserted also adds to the convenience of taking the rectal temperature since repositioning of the rectal probe may cause inaccurate readings and further discomfort to the child.
Rectal temperature measuring devices have been in use for a number of years. Traditional glass and mercury-filled thermometers are poorly suited for use in the rectal area and typically take several minutes to obtain an accurate temperature of an individual. Glass and mercury filled thermometers do not provide the ability to control insertion depth which can result in damage to the rectal tissue. They are also difficult to read. The electronic rectal thermometers currently available, although faster than their mercury-filled predecessors, do not solve all of the problems associated with taking a rectal temperature. Known electronic rectal thermometers typically include an elongated probe that contains a thermal resistor (thermistor) within the tip of the probe. In use, the probe is inserted into the anal canal and the individual's temperature is measured by the thermistor. Although the amount of time required for obtaining a reading is less than that of a glass and mercury filled thermometer, digital rectal thermometers still have problems. Conventional digital rectal thermometers are not washable, are difficult to read due to the positioning of their displays, are awkward to hold in a consistent position within a squirming child, and do not have means for preventing over-insertion.
Accordingly, there remains a need for an improved digital rectal thermometer that is site-specific to the rectal region, provides for greater comfort to patients and those holding the thermometer, increases the accuracy and speed with which the temperature is measured due to controlled-depth insertion, is washable and provides a digital display that is easily read by the user.